The World By National Geographic For iPad: I've Always Wanted A Spinning Globe

Did we ever figure out the appeal of spinning globes? Oh, no shit. It's the spinning part. But how come I don't ever see them anymore? Is it not cool? I don't care cause The World by National Geographic turns your iPad into a spinning globe and I LOVE it.

What's it do?

It's a 'maps' app in the sense that the bulk of what you're looking at is maps. But it's also a spinning globe app that allows you to twirl around our little blue planet to your heart's desire (rich people: pick your next holiday!), a photos app that shows you astonishingly gorgeous pictures of places around the world (hey Algeria, you are booootiful) and a Flag book that shows you all the flags of countries around the world. The idea is to let you poke, prod and yes, spin the world around however you want. It can get a little dizzying but I feel like the curious kid who doesn't know Algeria from Albania again.

Why do we like it?

We've all played around with Google Maps before and The World isn't anywhere as useful as that but what it does do is offer nostalgia. Remember when you were crawling around as a kid in your dad's office? No? OK, fine. I do though. I was always entranced by the spinning globe, curious as to how the rest of the world was, wondering how the hell we live on a big circle. But spinning globes only gave you so much detail, you had to reach for the encyclopaedia to learn more about each country or peek at a world map to see more detail. I remember liking countries with the coolest looking flags too. It's all of those experiences — a touch of childhood, a dash of curiosity — combined in one app.

Trending Stories Right Now

Sonos has been the leader in delivering great audio around the home for some time. And there probably aren't that many homes without at least some IKEA furniture. Now, the two market leaders are joining forces to bring the Symfonisk smart speaker range to us. The Symfonisk line of smart speakers will be fully compatible with Sonos’ existing products and Ikea’s Home Smart line of of power outlets, lights, and window shades.

Quantum computers are probably the most misunderstood of nascent technologies, which makes sense, because their very basics rely on the hardest-to-grasp concepts of physics. That’s led to people making some ridiculous claims, such as that they give you “god-like powers” and that they’re an “imminent threat”.